State Department Records in the National Archives
- Introduction
- I. Central File (Record Group 59)
- II. Office Files, or "Lot Files" (Record Group 59)
- III. Foreign Service Post Files (Record Group 84)
- IV. Other Record Groups (for specialized topics)
- How to Access the Records
I. Central File (Record Group 59)
For most research topics, the central file is the largest and most important category of State Department records. All State Department correspondence with U.S. diplomatic and consular offices in foreign countries, with foreign diplomatic and consular offices in the United States, and almost all other State Department correspondence and memorandums, are in the central file.
Your method for researching these records will depend on what dates you are looking for. Central file records are divided into five different time periods, reflecting the different kinds of filing systems used by the State Department.
- 1789 to 1906 - Records are arranged by series, thereunder by date
- 1906 to 1910 - NUMERICAL AND MINOR FILE - Records are arranged by subject into 25,892 subject case files
- 1910 to Jan. 1963 - DECIMAL FILE - Records are arranged by subject according to a decimal filing scheme
- Feb. 1963 to June 1973 - SUBJECT NUMERIC FILE - Records arranged by subject according to a subject-numeric filing scheme
- July 1973 to December 1975 - STATE ARCHIVING SYSTEM (SAS) -- Records exist
only in electronic format and paper copies from microfilm. Both the
finding aids and the electronic records are available through AAD, Access to Archival Databases.
- 1976 To the Present - Records are still in State Department custody. Access is possible only through a Freedom of Information Act request directed to the State Department.
1789 to 1906
Deed of Gift for the Statue of Liberty, 07/15/1884.
ARC Identifier: 595444 (College Park, MD)
Finding aids: There are registers that list letters in the same order as the letters
on the microfilm. For the 1870-1906 period the registers are on
M-17
, 71 rolls.
Records: The correspondence is divided into three main categories: Diplomatic, Consular, and Miscellaneous. Within each series, the correspondence is arranged by date sent.
The Diplomatic Correspondence is arranged by country in four series: The Department's
instructions to U.S. Ministers and Ambassadors are all on two microfilm publications.
The first is for diplomatic and consular instructions, 1791-1801, arranged chronologically
(M-28
, 5 rolls),
and the second is for diplomatic instructions, 1801-1906, arranged by country
(M-77
, 175 rolls).
The despatches or reports to the State Department are on 42 separate microfilm publications, arranged by country. The Notes from the Department to Foreign Legations and Embassies in Washington are on one microfilm
publication (M-99
,
99 rolls), arranged by country. Notes to the Department from Ministers and Ambassadors in Washington are
arranged by country, and are on 52 separate microfilm publications. Registers for diplomatic instructions and
notes from the Department, 1870-1906, are on rolls 11-18 of
M-17
. Registers for diplomatic
despatches and notes to the Department, 1870-1906 are on rolls 1-10 of M-17.
Most of the Consular Correspondence consists of despatches from U.S. consular officials, arranged by
city, and thereunder chronologically. There is a separate microfilm publication for each city. State
Department instructions to consuls are arranged chronologically instead of by city.
Only one time period, 1801-1834, is on microfilm
(M-78
, 7 rolls).
Registers for consular despatches received, 1870-1906, are on rolls
19-44 of
M-17
.
The final category is the Miscellaneous Correspondence, defined as everything not considered to be diplomatic or
consular. It is divided into two series, each arranged chronologically.
Domestic Letters
(M-40
,
171 rolls) consist of copies of letters sent from the State Department. The registers, 1802-1811, and 1840-1906,
are on rolls 57-71 of M-17.
Miscellanous Letters
(M-179
,
1,310 rolls) are for letters received by the Department.
The registers, 1860-1906, are on rolls 45-56 of
M-17
.
Microfilm of the Records: Almost all the correspondence is available for purchase on microfilm and copies are in the Archives II Microfilm Research Room on open shelves. The Diplomatic Records microfilm catalog is divided into four main parts. First is the introduction. Part II is a brief description of each publication, arranged by record group. Part III is a list of publications of Decimal File records, part of the central file, 1910-63. Part IV is a list of publications by country or area. Part V is a roll-by-roll breakdown, usually with dates or file numbers, of each publication listed, arranged by publication number.
To search this catalog online:
- From the main Microfilm Catalog page, click Advanced Search (next to the Search button)
- In the righthand column, under Subject Catalog, select "Diplomatic Records"
- Enter any related Subject Terms in the line above, such as a country name
- Hit "Search"
1906 to 1910
Numerical and Minor File
Finding aids: There is a Card Index arranged alphabetically by name or country or city, showing the Numerical File number. It is available on microfilm (M-1889, 86 rolls). In addition, there are "Purport List" cross reference slips arranged by the the subject categories in the Decimal File, the next segment of the central file.
Records: Beginning in August 1906, all correspondence and memos were filed by
subject in 25,892 separate case files, arranged numerically. The records are all available on
microfilm (M-862
, 1,241 rolls) with a descriptive pamphlet.
1910 to 1963
Decimal File
All correspondence and memos filed by subject according to a predetermined decimal file classification scheme. The records are divided into seven file segments. One filing manual is for file segments 1910-29, 1930-39, 1940-44, and 1945-49. A revised filing manual is for file segments 1950-54, 1955-59, and 1960-63.
Text of Filing Manuals:
Finding Aids
The filing manuals and the footnotes in the volumes published by the State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, help to identify relevant Decimal File numbers (the numbers and words before the slash (/) mark) or an individual document (both the file number and the number after the slash (/) mark).
- Purport Lists and Cards. A list of every document in every file, arranged the same as the records,
showing the file and document number, date, from and to, and the gist or "purport" of the document.
Lists and cards are available for each segment, 1910-49.
M-973
has the lists for 1910-29 (rolls 1-223), 1930-39 (rolls 224-431), 1940-June 1944 (rolls 432-602), and cards for July-December 1944 (rolls 603-654). Purport cards for the 1945-49 segment are not on microfilm but are available for research.
- Source Cards. For each segment 1910-1949 there are cards arranged by the source of the communication (country or city, thereunder to or from, thereunder by date), or by the State Department office originating a memorandum.
- Name Cards. For each segment 1910-59 there are cards which serve as a finding aid for communications from or about private persons or organizations. Name cards help to find the right Decimal File number, but the name card coverage is limited; name cards do not exist for every name mentioned in the records, or there may be only one name card showing a file that may contain many documents.
Decimal File Subjects
Before 1950 the filing manual includes general and miscellaneous (0); administration of the U.S. Government (100); extradition (200); protection of interests (300); claims (400); international congresses and conferences (500); commerce (600); political relations of states (700); and internal affairs of states (800).
From 1950 to 1963 the main categories are miscellaneous (0); administration of the U.S. Government (100); protection of interests (200); international conferences, congresses, meetings, and organizations (300); international commerce (400); information, education and cultural affairs (500); political relations of states (600); internal political and national defense matters (700); internal economic, industrial, and social affairs (800); and other internal affairs (900).
Each country was assigned a two-digit number (like 11 for the United States), or a combination of numbers and letters (like 90f, 1910-49, and 86a, 1950-63, for Saudi Arabia). The largest and most important files for each country are in class 8 (1910-49) and class 7 (1950-63).
Sample Decimal File Numbers:
711.1215/462. The 462nd document in the subject file for political relations (7) between the United States (11) and Mexico (12) about boundary questions (15).
851.00/11-2049. Documents filed after July 1944 are filed by date, the number after the slash (/) mark (November 20, 1949), in each subject file, such as internal (8) political affairs (00) of France (51).
February 1963 to June 1973
Subject-Numeric File
Beginning in February 1963 all records of the Department of State, correspondence, memos, reports, and other documents, were filed by subject in a central file arranged according to a new subject-numeric filing scheme.
Text of Filing Manuals:
Finding Aids: The filing manuals and the footnotes in the volumes published by the State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, help to identify relevant Subject-Numeric File numbers. For each date block of the Subject-Numeric File there are box lists which show the first and last folder label within each box.
Arrangement of the Records
- Date blocks. There are four blocks of records: February-December 1963, 1964-66, 1967-69, and 1970-73.
- Broad categories. Within each date block there are eight broad categories of records: Administrative, Consular, Culture and Information, Economic, Political and Defense, Science, Social, and Special (international organizations and conferences).
- Subject classes. Within each broad category there are from 3 to 19 different primary subject classes (for a total of 56) represented by abbreviations, which are written on each document and form the first element of the filing scheme. For example, in the Social category there are three primary subject classes: HLTH (for health and medical care), REF (for refugees and migration), and SOC (for social conditions).
- Country or area. The name of the country or area is the second element of the filing scheme. It is also written in an abbreviation, such as USSR for the Soviet Union or VIET S for South Vietnam. For some primary subjects there are general files that do not contain a country or area designation.
- Secondary subject number. The next arrangement is the third element of the filing scheme, the number or numbers such as 15-1 (for head of state or government) that appear after the primary subject abbreviation (POL) and before the country or area abbreviation (SWE). Thus, the file number POL 15-1 SWE is for documents about political affairs and relations (POL) in Sweden (SWE), specifically about the Swedish Prime Minister (15-1).
- Date. Within each file segment (like POL 15-1 SWE) the documents are filed chronologically, but for the first time for State Department records, from back to front within each file folder. If there is more than one folder for a file segment, usually the folders are in order from front to back.
Sample Subject-Numeric File Numbers:
| FN 9 US-FR | Finance, United States-France, Foreign Investment (9) |
| POL 15-5 US | Political Affairs and Relations, United States, Constitution (15-5) |
| POL 27-14 VIET | Political Affairs and Relations, Vietnam, Truce, Cease-Fire, Armistice (27-14) |
| POL 27-3 VIETS | Political Affairs and Relations, Vietnam South, Use of Foreign Country Forces (27-3) |
Missing Pages, Cross Reference Pages, and Misfiles.
There are some documents in the file that should have a page two, but it is missing. Every document in the Subject-Numeric File has its file number written in the upper right corner of page one. Sometimes there may be several file numbers there, but only one of them is not underlined - that is for the file in use. The entire document will be in the first-listed file; the other files are cross references and will contain only a paper copy of page one. Sometimes information is on both the front and back of specific documents, especially telegrams. Although the process of filing documents from back to front was easier, retrieving items is more difficult. This new State Department method of arranging records was complicated and confusing; there were many misfiles, and individual documents may not be arranged in perfect order.
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